The Harvesting (17 page)

Ethel invited the strangers to stay
the night and eat with us, but they insisted they return to their
boat. They promised to return the next day and asked us to be ready
to go. Everyone was in an excited jitter. That night, people left
the gymnasium full of dreams. Who wouldn’t have?

Back at the cabin, the girls crowded
around their mother in the kitchen.

“
Will all three of us stay
together in one room at the hotel?” Kira asked.

“
I want the hotel!” Susan
yelled happily.

“
I think so,” Frenchie
told them.

“
Do you think there will
be other kids there?” Kira quizzed her mother.

“
Probably,” Frenchie told
them absently as she set their dinner down in front of
them.

I was standing in the doorway of the
kitchen listening to the exchange. Frenchie looked up at me.
Apparently I was not doing a good job hiding my
concerns.

“
What is it?” she
asked.

“
Don’t go with them,” I
said.

Frenchie set down the jar of peanut
butter. The girls stopped their chatter and looked at
me.

“
Why not?”

It was a question I did not know how
to answer. “It’s not safe,” I replied.

“
Well, if we get another
influx like the one today, we’re not safe here either,” she
replied.

I shook my head.

“
What is it?”

“
Just don’t go. I can’t
say why. It’s like an instinct, I guess. But I know it’s not safe,
especially for the girls.”

Frenchie looked thoughtfully at me.
“Like a Grandma Petrovich instinct?”

I nodded.

Frenchie frowned, causing lines to
cross her forehead.

“
Mom,” Kira called in a
sing-song, knowing her dream of living in the hotel was fast
fading.

“
I’ll think about it,” was
all Frenchie said in reply, answering both of us.

Chapter 20

On the first day of spring every year,
my grandmother would go into the woods and return with a basket
full of forsythia and daffodils. When I woke at first light the
next day, I lay in bed considering the weight of obligations on me.
I also worried about the new burden I must bear: stopping the
exodus. The stress of everything overwhelmed me. How could I
convince everyone to stay on my hunch that there was something
wrong with these people? Instead of doing what I should do, I slid
on my boots and headed over the back gate and into the
woods.

I hiked into the woods and followed
Spring Creek, one of the many small tributaries that ran to the
lake, deeper into the forest. The soft sounds of the water
trickling over the rocks soothed my mind and let me think more
clearly. There was still ice at the creek’s edges. Growing in small
clumps on the creek bank, I saw snow drops and the first spring
daffodils. There was a clean smell in the air. I’d been hiking for
about an hour when I stopped to rest on a fallen log. Mushrooms
grew from the wood’s decayed crevices. I looked around and noticed
that fresh spring ferns were growing in abundance, their curled
fingers unfolding in the morning light which cast slanted beams as
it broke through the trees. Bright green moss covered the rocks on
the forest floor.

I sat still, looking at the water,
when I heard rustling behind me.

I turned to find a small girl standing
there. She was standing in a small grassy space between a dense
part of the woods and me. She was the most beautiful child I had
ever seen. Her hair was as yellow as an August sunflower. It curled
wildly around her ears. She wore a green cotton tunic with a pale
green top underneath and earth colored pants. She was about Kira’s
age. When she saw me, she smiled. She skipped over the grass toward
me.

As she came closer, my skin turned to
goose-bumps.

She climbed on the log beside me,
adjusting back and forth until she found a comfortable nook. I
noticed she had a sort of diadem on her head. A sparkling fresh
water pearl glittered on her forehead. Her eyes glittered
similarly; they were the same chartreuse green of the new ferns.
And I also noticed that her ears were somewhat pixie looking in
shape, and the skin around the edge of her hairline was tinged
green.

She whistled a sweet sound into the
forest. A moment later, a spring fawn appeared from amongst the
grass. Its wide nostrils breathed deeply, smelling both the girl
and me.

The girl dangled her feet as she dug
in her pocket. She pulled out what looked like lumps of raw sugar.
She held out her hand to the fawn. Hesitantly, the dappled creature
stepped forward, keeping one watchful eye on me. After a moment, it
was licking the sweet morsel from the girl’s hand. She
giggled.

She handed one of the sugary treats to
me. I extended my hand to the fawn. It looked thoughtfully and then
took the treat from me as well.

The girl giggled again.

After the fawn had eaten our treats,
it trotted back into the forest.

The girl smiled at me and slid off the
log. She skipped back toward the dense woody area from which she
came. At the border between the small open space and the thick
forest stood the magisterial forest lady I had seen that winter.
She wore a pale yellow gown.

The woman motioned to the child. The
girl wrapped her arms around the woman’s legs. The tall lady,
holding her hair back, bent and kissed the child on the head. Then
she rose and motioned for me to follow.

She took the child by the hand, and
they turned toward the woods.

I was not afraid, but I was
uncertain.

She stopped. Seeing I was not coming,
she bent low and whispered in the child’s ear. The girl nodded and
ran back to me. She stood in front of me and extended her hand much
the same was she’d extended it to the fawn. She smiled
sweetly.

I took the child’s hand. It was
surprisingly warm.

The sweet creature smiled up at me,
and we trailed behind the tall woman. We crossed the grass and
moved into the dense woods. The child led me over rocks and fallen
logs. Within a few moments, we reached a clearing. The tall woman
was sitting at an old well. It was stone at its base and had a
pitched wooden roof covering it. A short distance away was a
dilapidated old cottage. I had never noticed it before, but I knew
there were old houses deep in the forest.

The child let go of my hand and ran to
the woman.

The woman smiled at me. “Are you
afraid?” she asked. Her voice was light and sweet like the sound of
a songbird.

I had wondered if they would ever
talk. “No,” I replied.

She smiled. “Vasilisa was not afraid
either.”

Vasilisa was my grandmother’s given
name. “My grandmother feared little.”

“
The old blood, the wise
blood, that ran in her veins showed her right from wrong, good from
evil. It helped her see.”

Again, my grandmother’s words. “And
what should I see?” I asked the woman.

She looked thoughtfully at me. “Why
ask me? You already know. The old blood is in you as
well.”

“
The men who came are not
human.”

“
Not anymore,” the woman
answered.

“
And they are a
threat.”

“
Yes.”

“
What should I
do?”

“
Try to stop the people
from going.”

“
And if I
cannot?”

She looked down into the well and
motioned for me to join her.

I came to the well and looked inside.
At first I saw only my reflection in the spring sunlight. After a
moment, however, the image swirled, and I saw myself talking to the
townspeople who looked back at me with frowning faces. Shadows
appeared amongst them, whispering in their ears. The image swirled
again, and I saw a massive boat docked at the end of the community
pier. Everyone was walking toward it. Moonlight bounced on the
water then black clouds covered the moon and everything went black.
The image disappeared.

“
You must protect them,”
she told me.

I looked at the woman. The girl had
moved off in the distance and was picking flowers. The doe-eyed
lady whose skin was also tinged green at the edges smiled
sympathetically at me. “Who are you?” I asked.

“
Vasilisa called us Leshi,
forest spirits. Many years ago, a girl named Berwyn lived in that
house; she called us Aes Sídhe. The old ones of this land, they
have also come to you, called us Pukwudgie.”

“
Why do the forest spirits
care what happens to us? To me?”

She set her hand on mine. “Mankind has
finally consumed itself. Can any spark of humanity survive? You
must go now. And you must try. Much depends on you.”

I rose and turned to go back. Before I
left, I looked at her once more. “What is your name?”

Her facial features softened.
“Peryn.”

I nodded and headed back out of the
woods.

“
Farewell and be blessed,
Layla,” she called.

When I looked back again, they were
both gone.

Chapter 21

When I got to the cabin, Frenchie and
the girls were not there.

I slid on the bike and headed for the
school. When I got there, I found the townspeople packing the
supplies.

“
What are you doing?” I
demanded loudly when I entered.

They stopped. Everyone looked
confused. “We’re getting ready,” Summer replied.

Frenchie didn’t look at me.

“
Who says we are going? We
haven’t even discussed it.”

Tom set a box down. “We didn’t know
there was anything to discuss.”

Ian and Jamie emerged from the
back.

“
Well, there is. We can’t
go with those people,” I said.

Everyone looked surprised.

“
Why not?” Mrs. Finch
asked.

“
It’s not safe. Didn’t you
all see it? They aren’t right. They aren’t normal. We can’t believe
their story. They want something from us.”

Jamie looked worried.

“
They are shell-shocked
just like we are. It’s a chance at a fresh start,” Pastor Frank
said.

“
Didn’t you notice it,
Pastor? Didn’t you see it? You’re a man of God, after
all.”

“
See what?”

I shook my head. “I’m telling you
all—those people are dangerous.”

Everyone looked blindsided.

“
You’re just being
paranoid,” Jeff informed me.

“
We need to do something.
We can’t just sit here and wait to get attacked again. We’re never
going to make it,” Mr. Jones said.

“
We made it all winter,” I
retorted.

“
It’s not just that. Here
we are just surviving. We need to move on,” Tom told me.

“
Well, I, for one, am
going,” Jeff said. “No offense, but it is pretty much a sausage
fest around here.”

I rolled my eyes. “Please listen to
me,” I pleaded and cast a glance at Jamie and Ian for help.
“Please, I’m telling you. Those people are not what they seem.
Don’t you think they had too many good answers? Too many ready and
easy explanations? They are dangerous.”

“
Why do you think that?”
Jamie asked.

The room was still. It was
time to play the only card I had left. “Everyone knows what Grandma
Petrovich was. I am telling you, I
know
, just like Grandma
knew
. Those people are
dangerous.”

I had silenced the room.

After a few minutes passed, Pastor
Frank spoke: “Many respected your grandmother, Layla. And you might
be right, but we need to try.”

I looked at everyone.

“
You all agree?” I
asked.

While some nodded, others looked away,
not wanting to make eye contact with me.

I walked to the door. “Then go without
me,” I yelled, slamming the door behind me.

I had just slid onto my bike when
Jamie came out and stopped me.

“
I think you’re right,” he
said. “I sensed it too.”

“
Good, then maybe you can
convince them.”

He shook his head. “It’s no use. Their
minds are made up. Hell, they never even considered not going until
you said something. Those men painted a good picture.”

“
Well, we can stock up at
the cabin. If we stay alert, we’ll be fine. Even if anything gets
through, the chances of them finding the cabin are
slim.”

Jamie took a deep breath and looked
away from me.

“
What?”

“
Ian is going to go. There
are doctors there.”

I stared at him. “And?”

“
And I need to go with
him.”

I kick started the bike. “Well, good!
I guess the two of you can die together then,” I said and gunned
it. Before Jamie could say another word, I was gone.